High-heat-producing devices need to be cooled to reduce a temperature rise and the use of a water-cooling system is generally desirable because of the cooling performance.
Optical communication devices that enable high-capacity long-distance transmission (packet optical transport systems) are being actively developed and high heat production is becoming a problem in these optical communication devices as well. To cool an optical communication device with water, optical interconnections and cooling-water piping need to be installed.
Fluid couplers capable of interconnecting pipes simply and quickly are widely used for installing cooling water piping. Such a fluid coupler requires a press force of as large as 30 N (approximately 3 kgf), for example, for connecting operation (see “CGO/CGD” catalogues, Staubli Corporation, Apr. 5, 2011, for example).
Since an optical connector cannot withstand a force of as large as 30 N, a system in which an optical connector and a fluid coupler are mounted on the same daughterboard, for example, and are collectively connected to a backboard cannot be employed. Accordingly, most of the conventional optical communication devices use an air-cooling system. To employ a water-cooling system, cooling-water piping needs to be installed separately from optical interconnections and a fluid coupler and an optical connector need to be connected separately.